Dealing With Saddam What's in the cards for the missing members of the Iraqi high command?
According to Reuters AlertNet "The United States will soon deliver Iraq's deposed president Saddam Hussein and his inner circle into the hands of its own troops -- as a deck of playing cards...Brigadier General Vincent Brooks held up one of the first examples of the card packs at a Central Command briefing on Friday, explaining that each card depicted a character the United States wanted pursued, killed or captured."
Checking the deck quite predictably we find that Saddam is portrayed as the Ace of Spades, and his strong-arm younger son Qusay is tricked out as Ace of Clubs. Ironically, elder-psychopathic progeny Uday, who is said to favor the use of rape as a weapon of torture, is imaged as the Ace of Hearts.
An Adobe Acrobat PDF image of the full deck is available at Defense Link.

Is this the the new US military card game, Poke-Iman? "Hey, soldiers...gotta catch 'em all!"posted by Dunvegan (27 comments total)

I wonder how long it will be before these show up in stores?posted by MrBaliHai at 6:01 PM on April 11, 2003

I already envision a thriving business for Saddam's now-unemployed notorious Iraqi doubles -- a new career as Saddam impersonators in Vegasposted by matteo at 6:07 PM on April 11, 2003

What, no card for Baghdad Bob? I'm so depressed.posted by mcwetboy at 6:25 PM on April 11, 2003

The Pokemon concept is a bit different in that cards are individually collectable, you can make a deck out of whatever cards suit you. For a poker deck you need the entire deck and only the entire deck. Trading a Jack of Hearts from one deck to another, for example, makes two entire decks useless.

Mosque-opoly? Guess who wants the Arab Street! Sorry.posted by Onanist at 8:22 PM on April 11, 2003

What's with the H-U-S-A-Y-N spelling on the cards?

That's the way the CIA World Factbook has spelled it for at least a few years (scroll down to the "Government" section). I'd guess that this wanted list was prepared from CIA information, so whoever put it together was probably familiar with the institutional usage. Arabic words are notoriously difficult to anglicize, as anyone who remembers the whole Kaddafi/Gadhafi/Qaddafi mess from the '80s should remember.posted by Mars Saxman at 9:34 PM on April 11, 2003

by the way.. the .pdf sucks. It constantly has to load all 50 pictures.

Don't open it in a browser--Save Target As, then open the file in stand-alone Acrobat. Works fine that way.posted by AstroGuy at 10:28 PM on April 11, 2003

For all its worth, back in the late 80's when I was a 68 Bravo (Aircraft Powerplant Repairer) in the army, they were handing out decks of card with aircraft recognition drawings on them. It makes good sense, actually. A pack of cards is lightweight, fits easily in your pocket, and military life is filled with hurry-up-and-wait periods where playing a game of cards passes the time. This is nothing new.posted by Lokheed at 1:01 AM on April 12, 2003

Iraq: the Gathering!

Shock and Awe
Artifact
1 Mountain, 6 Plains

Tap to remove Baghdad cards from play
Tap to remove any one creature card from play
Shock and Awe untaps only when there are fewer Land cards than Artifacts in play.

Undead Civilians
Creature
1 Swamp
0/1

0:Regenerate
Sacrifice Undead Civilians to block all damage done to you by creatures and artifacts this turn.

Civil Liberties
1 Forest, 1 Plains, 1 Island
Enchantment

Sacrifice to remove all Muslim and/or Terrorist creatures from play.

Osama bin Laden
Muslim Legend
7 Plains, 4 Mountains
3000/12

Osama bin Laden may not be blocked while opponent has Civil Liberties cards in play.posted by Pseudoephedrine at 1:14 AM on April 12, 2003

Man, I had a deck of these, only with Sunshine Girls (the fully clothed, bowdlerised Calgary Sun version of Page 3 Girls). Can't see gettin' off on the Ba'ath party myself, but it takes all kinds, right?posted by arto at 2:51 AM on April 12, 2003

You've seen these cards on the nightly news. They've been featured in newspapers worldwide. Now you can own the one true collector's item from Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is the same 55-card deck given to Coalition soldiers featuring the Iraq's 52 "Most-Wanted" leaders.

Don't wait on this one! This is one of the hottest items in the country and we can barely keep them in stock! Set of four quantity-priced decks also available. Buy them for poker night or to hand out to your friends and family!

This deck is printed by the same company supplying these cards to the US Embassy in Kuwait. This is a real, usable deck of playing cards, printed on casino-quality stock. Don't be fooled by imitations! posted by y2karl at 4:57 PM on April 17, 2003

this is spooky--I got my second spam of this as I posted...posted by y2karl at 5:00 PM on April 17, 2003

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